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Terma and Saab sign Agreements
Saab and Danish defence and aerospace company Terma have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which should be seen as the initial step in a long-term cooperation between the two parties.

2006-11-03 | The background for the agreement is considerations of Danish Ministry of Defence which is in the process of evaluating options for the replacement of the Danish fleet of F-16 fighter aircraft. Saab is promoting the acquisition by the Danish Government of the Gripen aircraft as its new modern fighter aircraft as one of the candidates for the replacement.

This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Saab and Terma forms a good basis to bring together the expertise of the two parties resulting in good value for potential customers and also to sound and profitable business relations between the parties.

As a first concrete result of the Agreement, Terma and Saab have also signed a Contract for production of parts for Gripen. The production will start immediately at Terma's facilities in Grenaa, Denmark. The contract value is approximately 10 MDKK. The negotiations were concluded in a very short span of time.

"During OCA missions we used our datalink between four-ships which gave us fantastic situational awareness – better than we were getting from the E–3."

That sounds like qualified BS; either that or the E-3 is a very poor performer.

/Bengt

Yes and no. The Gripen datalink is a very advanced system and the E-3 is getting quite old. The radar images of the other Gripen jets is superimposed on the MFD screen with or without its own radar turned on. Even jets on the ground has the same situational awareness and can select targets using data from jets many 100's of km away before even taking off.

They also have the largest TFT screens of any combat jet.

Quick info about the datalink:

The Gripen is fitted with the "Tactical Information Datalink System (TIDLS)", which gives the fighter four high-bandwidth, two-way datalinks with a range of about 500 kilometers (310 miles) and very high resistance to jamming. The datalinks allow the Gripen to engage in combat using another aircraft's sensors or from targeting data provided by other defense systems. Data acquired from remote sources is fused and displayed on the fighter's main MFD. The link is fully operational when the aircraft is on the ground, allowing a pilot on standby to have high situational awareness of the battle environment.

One Gripen can provide radar sensing for four of its colleagues, allowing a single fighter to track a target, while the others use the data for a stealthy attack. TIDLS also permits multiple fighters to quickly and accurately lock onto a target's track through triangulation from several radars; or allow one fighter to jam a target while another tracks it; or allow multiple fighters to use different radar frequencies collaboratively to "burn through" jamming transmissions.

I know of the TIDLS, but what I mean is that even four PS-05/A linked together is in no way capable of outperforming the E-3.

It's not about outperforming a E-3.

It's about situational awareness in the pilot's seat (during OCA's).

E-3 on its own has better range but uses a rotating radar dome. Four Gripen's with radar beams covering a airtight spectrum autonomously superimposing the sensordata on the MFD's. 2 clear advantages for the pilot in that role.

Saab has successfully carried out the first flight tests with the air-to-air missile IRIS-T to verify the function between the missile and the Gripen aircraft.

2006-11-07 | IRIS-T enhances Gripen’s close combat performance, which is an important component for Gripen during future international operations.

“The test trials are an important milestone in the Gripen program. IRIS-T is a European collaboration and development project within the missile area, where Saab has a leading role for the integration of complex future missile systems”, says Henrik Höjer, responsible for the Gripen program within Saab Aerosystems

The IRIS-T is an air-to-air missile used during aerial combat with the new generation of fighter aircraft and will in future replace the American Sidewinder. The development of the air-to-air missile IRIS-T is being conducted as an international industrial project with the participation of Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Spain. IRIS-T is now in production.

“The IRIS-T missile and the Gripen aircraft have worked as expected and we are pleased with the flight test results”, says Joacim Eriksson, Project Manager for the integration of IRIS-T at Saab Aerosystems.

At the end of 2005, FMV, The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, ordered the integration of the missile on Gripen. Missile flight trials are included in the integration work, among other things. The work started at beginning of the year and will continue to 2009. The work started at beginning of the year and will continue to 2009.

Beside the IRIS-T programme Saab is also taking part in the Meteor programme, which also is an international cooperation between leading aerospace companies in Europe.

Saab is one of the world’s leading high-technology companies, with its main operations focusing on defence, aviation and space. The group covers a broad spectrum of competence and capabilities in systems integration.

The chosen successor to Denmark's current Lockheed F-16s will ideally be operational by 2010, Hans Rusmussen of the Royal Danish Air Force's fighter replacement branch told IQPC's Fighter conference in London late last month.

The F-35 will not be available to international customers before 2014. Norway's fighter competition...

Thanks for the update! mmm.. the new avionics suite (Rev 19) which is installed in the first South African and ordered for the SwAF makes the platform really nice for CAS duties. Being able to target gps bombs with the high-resolution SAR and other neat trix.

The chosen successor to Denmark's current Lockheed F-16s will ideally be operational by 2010, Hans Rusmussen of the Royal Danish Air Force's fighter replacement branch told IQPC's Fighter conference in London late last month.

There's pretty much no chance of that happening.. regardless of what they select.

A replacement for the danish F-16's should be operational by 2015 were replacement will start. I will bet that RDAF chooses JSF and that the evaluation of Eurofighter and Gripen are just for show. In every presentation the danish airforce produce concerning the future of the airforce, they always use the JSF too illustrait the future fighter. We has already payed 150 mill. US$ for participating in the JSF program. And on the TV-news this week there been some critical comments on the evaluation process.
But i hope the best plane may win in a fair competition....

A replacement for the danish F-16's should be operational by 2015 were replacement will start. I will bet that RDAF chooses JSF and that the evaluation of Eurofighter and Gripen are just for show. In every presentation the danish airforce produce concerning the future of the airforce, they always use the JSF too illustrait the future fighter. We has already payed 150 mill. US$ for participating in the JSF program. And on the TV-news this week there been some critical comments on the evaluation process.
But i hope the best plane may win in a fair competition....

That's what Dassault said... So what's the political scene like on this issue? When is the next election and would a change mean something different?

That's what Dassault said... So what's the political scene like on this issue? When is the next election and would a change mean something different?

I agree btw

Well the socialistic opposition are quit skeptical about the hole process but if they got into power they wouldn't be able too do so much about. That's because it's the Air-force that desides which aircraft they will recommend to the parliment. And in Denmark we have a tradition for following the recommendations. The only thing the politicians can do is too make sure that the 3 contenders are competing on equally terms and that's not so easy as it seems..

SAAB today presented their offset program for Norway. The details is not available yet but this is:
--
SAAB is offering 48 new Gripen N (new engine, wings etc) for the total sum of 20 Billion NOK (US$3.12 Billion)

100% Offset in the form of Industrial contracts and technological cooperation.
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Previously mentioned by the Swedish government is joint training and a support/maintenance base. And a offer to participate in the development of a Gripen demonstrator (similar like how Norway is in on the JSF and Eurofighter as a partner)